Growing up in Baltimore, I became a huge Oriole's fan at a young age. Although my interest has dwindled through the years, I still have fond memories of those classic Baltimore teams. The Oriole bird is the perfect mascot for the team because it also happens to be the state bird of Maryland. I always thought that the black and orange colors of the Baltimore Oriole created an attractive, bold contrast. The only problem that I have with the Orioles is that they're sometimes referred to as the O's. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but people from Baltimore have a distinct dialect that absolutely butchers the traditional "oh" sound. If you've spent any time at all around the city, you know what I'm talking about....
All the way across the country on the left coast, there's the Oakland Athletics, better known as the A's. Since there's no annoying accent to contend with, "the A's" is a perfectly fine name. I actually like it better than the Athletics. I mean, what the hell is an Athletic anyway? It actually sounds more like an adjective (i.e. Ken is an athletic man). Wouldn't the Oakland Athletes be more appropriate?
And then there's the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. Why would anyone name a team after a pair of socks? Along the same lines, the Cincinnati Reds were originally called the Red Stockings. Who came up with that name? Santa Claus?
Moving along, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been playing in LA since they moved from Brooklyn in 1958. The name "Dodger" is short for "Trolley Dodger". While the team played in New York, this name made perfect sense since there were probably plenty of drunken Irishmen dodging trolley cars during that era. But how many people are dodging trolley cars in modern-day Los Angeles? Bullets maybe, but not too many trolley cars.....
Actually, LA has a second team, the Angels. The team was originally called the California Angels which never really made sense to me. At the time, there was already four other major league baseball teams in the state of California (San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, LA Dodgers & Oakland A's). In my opinion, if there's a team that represents the whole state, it should be the lone team in that state. Well, since the Angels played their home games in the city of Anaheim, someone eventually came up with the smart idea of renaming the team, the Anaheim Angels. And the, just when you thought everything made sense, in 2005 the team was renamed the Los Angeles Angels. This make absolutely no sense at all to me since LA already had the Dodgers and the Angels were still playing their home games in the city of Anaheim. If that wasn't bad enough, Los Angeles is Spanish for "the angels". So, by calling the team the Los Angeles Angels you were basically calling them the Angels Angels. Now, that's what I call loco crazy!
Along the same lines, Minnesota has the Twins which, of course, refers to the the twin cites, Minneapolis and St. Paul. And there's also the New York Mets, which is short for the Metropolitans. Real catchy, huh?
Years ago, when Washington DC had their original baseball team, they called themselves the Senators. Ok, I get the name concept here. But why would any team want to be named after a politician? Years later, when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, the team was renamed the Washington Nationals. Again, I get the concept of the name, but could they have possibly made it any more bland?
Moving on to Cleveland, the Indians have been around since the turn of the twentieth century. The previous names of Cleveland's ball club included the Bluebirds and the Molly McGuires. Taking a cue off of the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves), the team was renamed the Indians in 1915. I don't really see the big deal, but in today's politically correct society, I'm really surprised that the team name still stands.
Now, the most interesting name of all, in my opinion, goes to the Milwaukee Brewers. How can you not love a club that makes beer? I can remember watching the Orioles play in Milwaukee years ago. Every time one of the Brewer players would hit a home run, one of the team's mascots would slide into a giant mug of beer just over the outfield wall. The Brewers also happen to be the only team that treats their fans to a "sausage race". The five sausages include the Italian, the Polish, the Hot Dog, the Chorizo and my personal favorite, the Bratwurst. In 2003, perhaps the most famous race, a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates whacked the head of the Italian Sausage with a baseball bat. The Italian went down and took the Hot Dog with him. Merchandisers quickly seized the opportunity and had shirts printed up that read, "Don't Whack Our Wiener!"Coming back to the Pittsburgh Pirates. You're probably thinking, "Pittsburgh is an industrial town known for steel manufacturing. What the hell does this have to do with pirates?" Well, the team, formerly known as the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, renamed itself the Pirates in 1891 after the Philadelphia Athletics of an opposing league accused Pittsburgh of stealing or "pirating" one of their players. The name change was a tongue-in-cheek jab at Philadelphia and as a result, there have been Pirates in Pittsburgh ever since.....
What about the Kansas City Royals? Seems like a nice enough name, but what's so royal about Kansas City? The team was actually named after the "American Royal" which happens to be a rodeo, horse and livestock show that's held in Kansas City every year. It actually sounds like a state fair to me. But I don't think that the Kansas City Fairies would go over very well.....
kw
* http://kensmouthpiece.blogspot.com/2010/03/word-on-college-mascots.html
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